Saudi Aramco Pulls The Trigger On $25 Billion Megaproject

Saudi Aramco signed on Thursday an agreement to invest in a 400,000-bpd refinery and associated petrochemical plants in eastern China as part of Saudi Arabia’s push to expand its downstream business and secure additional markets for its oil. The Saudi state oil giant signed a memorandum of understanding with the Zhejiang province to invest in the refinery and petrochemical complex and to cooperate in crude oil supply and trading, Reuters reported, citing details released by the city of Zhoushan, where the complex will be built. Aramco will take over the 9-percent stake of the Zhoushan government in independent refiner Zhejiang Petrochemical, which is developing the project, Abdulaziz M. Al-Judaimi, Aramco’s senior vice president of Downstream, told the Caixin Global news outlet. According to Caixin calculations, the value of the stake would be US$308 million (2.14 billion yuan). Total investment in the refinery-petrochemical project is expected at US$24.9 billion over […]